Bulgarian Police Arrest Owner of Beirut's Notorious Explosives Ship
Officials in Bulgaria have arrested the owner of the Rhosus, the aging freighter that brought a cargo of explosives-grade ammonium nitrate into Beirut in 2013. In 2020, that cargo exploded, destroying half the port and killing more than 200 people.
The cargo of ammonium nitrate entered Beirut’s port on the Moldovan-flagged ship Rhosus in November 2013. The vessel was detained for PSC deficiencies and seized by port officials. Her cargo was a consignment of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, officially intended for a mining firm in Mozambique, but mechanical issues forced the ship to call in Beirut (or to pick up more paying cargo, depending on the account). Rhosus never left: it was detained for PSC deficiencies, then abandoned by the owner, and it later sank at a pier. The cargo was moved to a warehouse on the grain pier, where it stayed until its detonation on August 4, 2020.
After the blast, the FBI estimated that the actual amount that detonated was about one-fifth of that, indicating that a portion of the cargo had been surreptitiously removed. The site had known security gaps: welders were working to secure the doors of the warehouse facility on the day of the blast, and likely triggered the explosion.
Attention quickly focused on the Rhosus' role in the tragedy, and on the owners who abandoned it. Shortly after the investigation into the blast got under way, the investigating judge on the case (at the time) issued an international arrest warrant for the captain and for the owner, Russian-Cypriot dual national Igor Grechushkin. His role in the vessel's operation is disputed: the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) has identified another Cypriot shipping magnate as the vessel's ultimate beneficial owner, and based on OCCRP's paper trail, Grechuschkin appears to have been chartering the vessel.
Grechushkin has been subject to an arrest warrant for many years, but with little effect. This may be in part because of the status of the Lebanese investigation. After the blast, the inquiry almost immediately focused in on the Lebanese political figures who allowed the explosives to sit on a dock near a residential district. The suspects began to fight back: certain officials worked to have the investigating judge removed, and the inquiry under replacement Judge Tarek Bitar also stalled. The case became an oft-cited and unpopular example of self-dealing by powerful members of Lebanon's political class.
After years of stagnation, the investigation got a reboot in January 2025 thanks to the newly-elected government of Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. They campaigned on a pledge to seek justice for the thousands of people who were displaced, injured or killed by the blast, and immediately empowered Bitar to move forward. That inquiry is showing signs of progress at last, and Grechuschkin's arrest is among the first tangible steps.